The Hindu is reporting that initial trend of bidding under the National Solar Mission shows that for solar photovoltaic (PV), the developers have offered discounts of around Rs 6 a unit on the CERC tariff. The tariff rates notified by the CERC for 2010-11 are Rs 17.91 (normal rate of depreciation)/ Rs 14.96 (accelerated rate of depreciation) per unit for PV and Rs 15.31 a unit for solar-thermal. Players offering the best discount on CERC tariff would feature higher in the pecking order during the allocation of the identified projects under the Mission.

NTPC Vidyut Vyapar Nigam Ltd (NVVN), a wholly owned subsidiary of NTPC, has invited players to submit bids for developing solar projects under the Mission. NVVN is the designated nodal agency to procure solar power from project developers under the Mission at a tariff fixed by CERC for the first three years. The RFS was called for developing 150 MW of solar PV projects with a capacity of 5 mw each and 470 MW of solar thermal projects with a minimum capacity of 5 MW and maximum of 100 MW each.